Your oppinion about the upvote style of forums

Lets get a good discussion in here, I've meant to post this like... A month ago... (Woops) But I am interested in your opinions about upvote style forums, like Reddit, Imgur's comment system, ETC.

I personally think its a horrible designed system, I think that it encourages someone to just get something out there fast for upvotes. Not thinking too much about the content they share. Then comes the idea of downvoting arguments that are valid but the user doesn't agree with. It throws the valid argument down the thread where less people will see it.

That's a great question. i think that it depends on the nearby content. Imgur? great use; drive-by comments directly related to humor. Reddit? inferior use; substantive content is hampered by showboating at the comment level. But, at the thread level it can certainly be a useful tool; democratic nomination of the most entertaining content. And, as long as there are groups based on content those who seek something other than that can find their way home.

I think it very much depends on the type of discussion you're having. It works really well for Q&A forums, as there's always a right and wrong answer, but once you start delving into highly opinionated topics, then the popular opinions are the ones that make it to the top, and you begin to see things like vote brigading and the concept of a "hivemind".